Carlos Alcaraz’s surprise US Open loss to Botic van de Zandschulp raises questions

NEW YORK — Everyone was waiting for Carlos Alcaraz to turn things around at the US Open.

Alcaraz figured it would happen at some point. So did his opponent. And surely the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium and the people tuning in on TV did, too. This is, after all, Carlos Alcaraz we’re talking about – the diminutive 21-year-old with four Grand Slam titles, including one at Flushing Meadows as a teenager.

A guy at the top of his game right now. One guy expected to accept the mantle from the big three of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. A guy who entered the US Open as a favorite and entered the second round in New York on a 15-game winning streak at majors, with championships at the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July, plus a silver medal in Paris. The Olympics in early August.

The best version of Alcaraz never materialized Thursday night on Arthur Ashe Stadium against 74th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp, who won 6-1, 7-5, 6-4, a result as stunning for who he won and for how easily. he did it.

After that, No. 3-ranked Alcaraz looked like someone a little worried about what it might mean.

“Instead of taking steps forward, I took steps back mentally. I can’t understand why,” he said during the Spanish portion of the post-match press conference. “I need to check what’s happening to me.”

What happened to Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open?

Not only did Alcaraz look defeated.

He also seemed puzzled.

“I wasn’t seeing the ball well. … I couldn’t hit him properly. It’s a pretty strange feeling,” Alcaraz said. “I’m not good mentally, I’m not strong. I don’t know how to handle difficult times and that’s a problem for me.”

Who is Botic van de Zandschulp?

Across the net was van de Zandschulp, a 28-year-old from the Netherlands who seriously considered retirement a few months ago and came into the US Open with an 11-18 record this season and no streak . tournament level tournament.

He has only once reached the quarter-finals at any Grand Slam tournament, reaching that stage at Flushing Meadows three years ago.

So van de Zandschulp was pretty sure the one-sided nature of Thursday’s game would change.

“Even in the third, you’re thinking, like, ‘He’s going to come up with something special,'” van de Zandschulp said. “Actually, I was thinking that the whole game.”

But Alcaraz just couldn’t leave.

Why did Carlos Alcaraz struggle at the US Open?

He couldn’t really explain why he never changed things or why he couldn’t find anything that worked.

“Today I was playing against the opponent and I was playing against myself, in my mind,” Alcaraz said. “A lot of emotions that I couldn’t control.”

When a reporter offered a possible explanation — exhaustion after what had been a busy period — Alcaraz admitted that a tennis schedule he called “so tight” might have been too tiring.

He went from the clay of Roland Garros to the grass of the All England Club to the clay of the Summer Games and then to the hard courts of North America.

“I probably came here with not as much energy as I thought I would,” Alcaraz said. “But, I mean, I don’t want to use that as an excuse.”

What’s next for Carlos Alcaraz?

Perhaps the devastating loss to Novak Djokovic in the Olympic final that left Alcaraz in tears was hard to properly process. In the one hard-court match he played before the US Open – a loss to Gael Monfils at the Cincinnati Open – Alcaraz lost his cool, repeatedly breaking his racquet on the court, a reaction for which he later apologized.

He has now dropped three of his last four competitions and must find a way to get through this and be ready for the next Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open in January.

Then again, maybe Alcaraz shouldn’t be too hard on himself. After all, there must be a reason why only two men in the last 55 years have managed to win the Paris, London and New York Championships in a single season: Rod Laver in 1969 (when he completed a Grand Slam on calendar year) and Raphael. Nadal in 2010.

“I have to think about it,” Alcaraz said. “I have to learn (from) this… if I want to improve.”

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AP Sports Writer Eric Núñez contributed to this report.

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Howard Fendrich has been the AP tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich